Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1887-04-12

P~TTTsBURG, April 1.-The detect-
ives have unearthed a gigantic con-
spiracy for the robbing OF the Pan
Handle Railroad Company. Nearly
hall a million dollars worth of freight
is said to have been carried off by the
p~lunderers and their loots. Most OF
the men involved in the plot are con-
ductors and brakemen in the employ
of the road. This morning a concerted
raid began upon the boarding places
and homes of the Pan Handle railroad
employees, conductors and brakemen,
by a squad composed of 100 policemen,
detectives and Constables. At is
O'Clock two prisoners were escorted to
the Jail from their homes. At 8 o'clock
this morning "A conductors and brake
men we're locked up in the county Jail,
one entire wing of which had been
specially set apart for their accommo-
dation. The early trains from the
west were held in the yard. BY a dis
play of red signals from the Fourth
Avenue the officers boarded the train,
knowing the men that were wanted,
and promptly secured them and
marched them to Jail. No train ar
rived that did not lose one or more
men from its crew.
John III. Hampton, attorney for the
Pennsylvania Company, was seen this
morning in the office of the detective
agency, where, sitting amongst a het-
erogeneous collection of plunderers,
said these robberies had been carried
on Systematically for several years.
The company have long been aware
that there was a leakage somewhere,
and as early as September, 1886, they
quietly commenced Investigations. De-
t~ectives were placed on the trains,
where the goods could be watched and
the thieves caught. We had already
discovered that the culprits were en-
ployes OF the company. In September
there were 80 crews OF freight trains
on the Pan Handle Company coming
into Pittsburg. Of these so crews, no
less than rs were found to be crooked.
A crew consists of a conductor, flag
man and two brakemen. In some
cases all the men were involved, and
in others only a part. The statement
that the engineers and firemen were
mixed up in the robbery is wrong.
Not a single one is involved. The
goods were obtained in various ways.
In many instances the seals were
broken, while in others hatchets were
used to cut a hole in the end of a car,
through which the men crawled and
took what they coveted. Then they
reported the car in bad condition,
claiming that a hole had been made
by accident. The operations were
all the result of a combination. Their
arrangements were all carefully made,
and each rascal was assigned to his
particular post OF the work, in much
the same way as a bank robbery is
conducted by professional craftsmen.
/ do not know that the members OF
the combination were oath-bound, or
anything of that kind, but it is certain
that a thorough understanding existed
among them, and that they acted in
concert to cover each others doings.
The things which alarmed us more
than anything else was, that they
stole large quantities of whisky and
drank it in the cabooses. They needed
vessels to hold the liquor, SO they
stole milk cans and kept it in them,
not daring to keep whisky openly in the
cars. They tore up the flooring and hid
it underneath. The men were continu-
ally reported drunk on duty, and the
probability of disaster was something
frightful to contemplate. All kinds of
goods were stolen, including sewing
machines, guns, r%evolvers, cutlery,
silverware, cigars, clothing, liquors,
groceries, furniture, and in fact every
imaginable article that a be carried
on cars were quietly removed. De-
predations were committed all along
the road, and losers reside at points
as far west as Denver. Fences" were
established in this city, where the
stolen property was taken and then
sold, and the money being evenly di-
vided among the crews. tits impossi-
BILE to give what the aggregate value of
the stolen property is. but it is claimed
that it will reach $500 900. The ar
rests created the greatest sensation
among the railroad employees of this
city. The scenes about the Jail doors
this morning, where the relatives of
the prisoners had gathered, to learn
the cause of the arrests. were OF the
sadest description. At l O'Clock ten
more arrests were reported. They
were captured at the pay-car while
receiving their wages. This makes a
total of Sc now in Jail here, and it is
supposed as many more have been APP
pretended at other points along the
line. CONSERVATION prevails among
the propritors of fences" and dens
where the goods were secreted and
sold.
Seven more arrests have been made,
but the names are not yet recorded.
Nearly 200 warrants are still out. A
number of houses in various parts of
the city were raided to-day, and q
large quantity Of goods recovered.
Every man arrested had stolen goods
somewhere. Among the prisoners are
several desperate characters, who |
were wanted by the police for other Of
lenses. They were all armed. and